All Posts

Islamabad/Lahore/ Karachi ( 9 October 2018): Civil Society Organizations working in Pakistan have urged the government, particularly the Ministry of Interior, to revisit its decision of rejecting the registration applications of several International Non-Governmental Organizations (INGOs), which have been asked to leave without any plausible justification.

In a statement released here on Tuesday, the national civil society organizations expressed serious concern over the reported rejection of the registration applications of several international organizations. “We believe that this decision would negatively impact country’s development agenda and its image internationally,” a statement said.

Pakistan government has rejected the registration of over 18 INGOs last week and some of them have already received the so-called rejection letters dated 2nd...

Islamabad, July 24, 2018: Network shutdowns on the polling day and denying citizens access to communications and information infrastructure is a serious violation of fundamental rights that compromise the effort to ensure free, fair, transparent and peaceful election in Pakistan , stated by the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, Bytes for All and Peace & Justice Network at an urgent press conference in Islamabad.

Over a period of time, human rights defenders have observed with growing concern a pattern that has now become regular for the incumbent governments that handle any law and order...

Islamabad, (July 18, 2018): Historically, elections in Pakistan are marred with violence and violations of elections code of conduct. Forthcoming general elections are no different. We are seeing a steep rise in the elections violence, violations of code of conduct and issues of shrinking civic spaces in the country. To this end, Bytes For All in collaboration with CIVICUS and Innovation for Change is launching an innovative campaign known as #IYouWe Peace Pledge Campaign.

This campaign endeavors:

To promote peace, dignity and respect for all voices in the 2018 Pakistan elections; Not to support people or organisations using hate speech or inciting violence; To abide by the official electoral Code of Conduct ; and To create a more dignified, equal society in which all people are heard regardless of religion, sex, caste, creed, color and profession.

Islamabad, (May 25, 2018): Bytes for All (B4A) warmly welcomes the act of Pakistan’s parliament to merge the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. This landmark constitutional amendment ends the dark age for human rights in FATA as 117 years old draconian Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR) is abolished.

Historically, the citizens of FATA have been denied access to the information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the name of security. While welcoming this constitutional amendment, we urge the state authorities to immediately lift the network shutdowns and restore telecommunication infrastructure to ensure affordable and quality access for the local population.

For any developing country, ICTs have proven to be an effective tool to strengthen democracy, development and social justice. These technologies...

In light of the recent mass killing of civilians in occupied Palestine, the undersigned 95 organizations call on the UN Human Rights Council to urgently launch an independent investigation into violations of international human rights and humanitarian law by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, occurring in the context of the "March of Great Return" and Nakba protests.

There are currently over seven million Palestinian refugees spread across the globe, including 1.3 million refugees in the Gaza Strip. [1] As the result of decades of dispossession, oppression and violations of international law, including 11 years of unlawful closure and blockade of the Gaza Strip, Palestinians therein and elsewhere in occupied Palestine have embarked on a six week campaign of largely peaceful protests, starting on 30...

ISLAMABAD, (April 25, 2018): The massive security breach at the core system of online regional transportation giant, Careem is alarming in the wake of increasing online service delivery, archival of sensitive personal data pertaining to a large number of customers and looming threats to these datasets.

Careem’s callous attitude towards protecting the private data of its customers is criminal and the authorities should hold the company accountable to ensure safeguarding the privacy of its citizens. This is yet another incident that demonstrates the express need and the importance of data protection and data privacy mechanisms in the country. The situation also calls for the urgent mechanism for pro-people data protection frameworks that create enabling online business environment, where corporations and government authorities are accountable and ensure...

April 18, 2018, (Islamabad): Bytes for All, Pakistan is extremely concerned over the recent developments pertaining to suppression of free speech through multi-level state interventions. This aggression against media, freedom of speech, expression and civil liberties is contrary to democratic norms and constitutional provisions.

It is very unfortunate that for a long time, censorship has been toed as a solution to any problems in the country. However, the new wave of censorship is widespread and has been impacting different segments of the society including political parties, academia, conventional media, social media and youth movements.

The nation-wide blackout of the country’s leading news and current affairs channel, Geo News is an open attack on free media in Pakistan. Multiple opinion articles by renowned intellectuals in different newspapers have been barred...

Bytes for All (B4A), Pakistan is a human rights organization and a research think tank with a focus on Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs). We promote the use of technology for sustainable development, democracy and social justice.